


Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

by katmint



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: F/M, I totally rushed this, Kate is a dramatic teenager, Prom, Seth has no idea how to handle a teenager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 18:51:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,565
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8458990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katmint/pseuds/katmint
Summary: Kate Fuller misses her prom and Seth does something completely out of character.





	

**Author's Note:**

> OMGGGGGG WHAT AM I DOINGGGG?? I've literally had this fic idea in my head since the end of season 2 and never acted on it. So when Seth brought up prom in the s3 finale (after I SCREAMED) I took it as a sign that I needed to write this ish. It's rushed, it's probably OC and it's garbage because I'm a bad writer. But it just makes me feel better knowing I finally wrote it. I like to imagine this happened shortly after the Twister, before Seth developed his nasty heroin habit. Also, the song I imagined them dancing to was Slow Dancing in a Burning Room by John Mayer hence the title. I read the lyrics and they had me shook they were so accurate. But you can imagine whatever song you want I guess :) SethKate 4eva

She had honestly only come here to do research, but when she saw those computers she couldn’t help but be curious about the happenings of Bethel. She reasoned a peek wouldn’t hurt. Ignoring the flood of Facebook notifications from people wondering where she had gone, she went straight to her newsfeed and knew right away. It was prom week.  
_Oh._  
Kate had known what she was in for when she had gotten into the car with Seth. In fact, she knew before she even walked out of the Twister. Her life from before was long gone and of course her friends were going to go on without her. Life was going to go on without her. What they say is true, you can’t go home again. Family was home to the Fullers, and with her daddy dead and her brother a monster... her family had been thoroughly ripped from her. She swallowed the lump in her throat at the thought of them.  
It hadn’t really mattered much to her before, leaving Bethel behind. But seeing the evidence of life passing her by was like a punch to the gut. While her friends were picking out dresses, she spent her time as Bonnie to Seth’s Clyde, or researching ancient blood sucking monsters. Kate banged her head on the computer desk in front of her to the steady beat of _‘what the fuck?’_

When the librarian shushed her with a stern, bewildered look, Kate remembered where she was and sent the woman an apologetic look. It was prom week and she was sufficiently freaking out. Kate quickly shut down the computer, gathered her things and fled the library.  
She might’ve been able to hide this from Seth if she had just been cool; if she hadn’t burst into the motel room like she was being chased. But she did and now Seth was on high alert right away.  
“What is it, what’s wrong?” He charged over to her, grabbing her just shy of too rough to check her for any injuries.  
“N- nothing, I’m fine,” she stuttered out, trying to hold it together.  
By the cocked eyebrow, Seth was not buying it. “The hell you are, you’re pale. What happened?”  
She was trying really hard to pull it together, but seeing him kept it at the forefront of her mind. It was prom week and she was stuck in a Mexican motel room with a bank robber. It was prom week and she was basically Buffy the Vampire Slayer except way less cool. She felt the walls closing in on her and she went into a tailspin.  
Her stomach dropped and she couldn’t catch her breath.  
“Ohhh God,” Kate huffed out, hunched over with her hands on her knees. “Oh my God.” She panted out over and over again as blood roared in her ears. She heard Seth sounding very far away as he said, “Jesus Christ, okay. Just breathe, Kate.” She felt him guide her to the nearest bed where she plopped down heavily. Seth instantly threw her head down between her legs and she shut her eyes against the dizziness.  
They stayed that way for a while, Seth rubbing a reassuring hand on her back and speaking to her in soft tones, “Just keep breathing, Katie. I’ve got you.”  
When her heart wasn’t about to explode anymore and she could catch her breath Kate sat up quickly, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. She whipped to her left to look at Seth, who looked wary and a little terrified. She couldn’t blame him, she had basically just had a mental breakdown.  
_Where to start._  
She decided to say something he wouldn’t question. “Sorry about that... Hormones.” She gave herself a mental pat on the back. _Solid work, Fuller._  
“Bullshit.” _Or not._  
She threw a glare at him that he ignored, “What do you mean bullshit?”  
“Kate you just had a panic attack. I’m not an idiot, alright?” It was his turn to glare at the ‘oh, really?’ look she gave him. “What happened?”  
She let his words sink in. _It’s prom week and I’m fighting Mexican Dracula and I just had a panic attack._  
“Did you just say... prom?”  
She hadn’t meant to say that out loud and he didn’t sound very amused.  
“You mean to tell me, you just barged in here verging hysteria over goddamn _prom_? “ He launched himself off the bed and paced the tiny room before rounding on her again. “I thought something was really wrong, you know that? I thought you were _hurt_. You scared me half to death, Kate.”  
He started laughing then, no longer angry. “I guess this is what I get for having a teenage sidekick."  
That earned him another glare that he caught this time. “You’re gonna wake up one day and realize that it doesn’t matter, Kate. You’re beyond stupid things like prom, princess.”  
She had just about enough of his patronizing and she snapped, “Yeah, well it fucking matters to me, Seth. It matters to me.” Anger was good, anger didn’t send her into a panic. Hold onto anger.  
“We can’t all be the disinterested Seth Gecko." Seth rolled his eyes. “Yes I care... yes I’m upset. You forget you’ve lived this way your whole life. I fell into it just recently, thanks to you and your brother.” He opened his mouth at the mention of Richie but she threw a finger up. “I’m not done.” He shut up, thankfully.  
“I’ve been rolling with the punches and I thought I had left my life behind, but I _am_ still a teenage girl. So excuse me if I’m a little upset that I’m missing out on a milestone in life. Excuse me if this knowledge further cements the fact that I will never be _normal_ again. And _excuse me_ if I freak out a little bit.”  
Seth had the sense to look chagrined by her rant and sat back down next to her on the bed. “Sorry. I didn’t know it meant that much to you.” Kate huffed in annoyance. “I mean it, I’m sorry. I get it. Prom is a big deal for teenage girls.” Seth followed up saying the right thing with saying the absolute wrong thing. “Coming into womanhood and-”  
“Stop right there!” Kate flew off the bed and looked at him with disgust. “We are not having that talk.” Seth got up too, and went to crack open a warm beer.  
“I just wanted to experience that tradition. Wearing the poofy dress, wearing the ugly corsage, slow dancing with the guy; all of it. But I can’t and I have to come to terms with that, so let’s just drop it. Sorry I freaked out.”  
She kept her head down as she walked into the bathroom for a shower. If she had looked up she wouldn’t have missed the look Seth gave her as he took a swig of his beer.

It was three days later and Seth had been right. Kate had mostly forgotten why she was so upset before. Obviously she was still sad she was missing her prom, but there were more important things in life. Not to mention, Seth’s erratic behavior these past few days really helped her move on from her teenage blues. The older Gecko brother was slowly becoming the weirder of the two. Every time she came home he freaked out like she had caught him in her panty drawer, and one time she really did catch him. Not in her panties, but checking the label on her clothes. Once caught he dropped the shirt he had been holding like it was on fire and ran out the door, mumbling about being back later. Kate could only stare after him incredulously.  
When Friday rolled around it was safe to say Seth had completely lost it. He kept trying to get her out of the motel room, and it was starting to freak her out. After his third suggestion that she go to the market, _‘Here, I’ll even give you some extra cash’_ , and her third refusal, he gave up. He had been fidgety all day since then, throwing glances her way that were really starting to get on her nerves. She slammed the book she was reading closed, and he stopped cleaning his gun for the fifth time today to jump out of his chair.  
“Oh, are you going out?”  
When she replied the affirmative he had sounded way too eager to see her out the door and she threw up her hands in frustration before slamming the door behind her.  
Later that night Kate marched her way back to the motel room on a mission. Two hours wasted and she had gotten nothing done, too preoccupied with what a psycho Seth was being. She had every intention of giving him a piece of her mind. She needed to snap him out of it because she couldn’t lose him too. He was all she had left, as sick as it was.  
When Kate opened the door to their room she froze in place. The beds had been pushed against one wall, creating space she hadn’t known was there. That’s not what she was staring at though. The room was dim but she had no problem seeing. Spanning the whole room, across every counter and shelf sat lit tea candles. The room was aglow with the light from them and she didn’t miss the pink streamers hanging from wall to wall, covering the whole ceiling. Right in the middle of the room, stood Seth in his classic three piece suit. Holding a prom dress.  
_No way._ “Wha-”  
“Before you say anything, go put this on,” Seth cut her off, throwing the dress to her.  
“Seth... are you giving me a prom?" Kate couldn’t help the sweet smile on her face and she tilted her head at him. He seemed like he might blush but instead he pointed to the bathroom and the look he gave her left no room for discussion.  
Kate stood in front of the dirty bathroom mirror, staring at herself in the dress. Perfect fit. She was starting to make sense of his erratic behavior. Now that she wasn’t afraid he was losing it, she had to giggle. She walked out of the bathroom and Seth was waiting for her, with an eyebrow cocked. She gave him a twirl for effect.  
“God, that’s hideous.” _Clearly he has no intention of playing the role of the gentleman tonight._ She would’ve been offended if she didn’t agree with him. She knew she looked like a ball of glittery hot pink cotton candy and she had to laugh with him. The dress was horrible and... she loved it. She loved all of it.  
“Seth, why are you doing this? Is this the part where you confess your undying love for me?” Kate couldn’t hold back the questions anymore.  
Seth scoffed, “Get real princess. Don’t read too much into this, alright?” He walked towards her, fiddling with the cuffs of his suit.  
“I just figured after everything I did to you, to your family I owed you this much. I know how much prom means to you. This is the least I could do.” He still wasn’t meeting her eyes and she knew it must be hard for him to say even this much. “Besides, you get to clean this all up."  
She could tell the kiss she placed on his cheek shocked him for a second but he recovered quickly, grabbing a corsage off the counter next to them.  
“The ugly corsage to match.” They shared a smile as he pinned it to her dress.  
He walked backwards until he reached the CD player at the corner of the room and he hit play. “Now let’s not make this a long thing. One dance and we’re back to normal, got it?” He seemed satisfied with her quick nod and asked, “So you gonna dance with me, or what?”  
Kate met him in the middle of the room and took his hand as the music surrounded them. He threw her arms around his neck and placed his around her waist and they began to sway. She was glad it was a slow song, because she could not imagine Seth busting a move for real. Seth was keeping his eyes planted at a fixed spot on the wall behind them but at the snort she released he looked down at Kate. Suddenly shy and no longer able to stare back at him when he was this close, she put her head to his chest.  
“Laughing at me now?”  
He felt her shake her head and he went back to his spot on the wall. Kate didn’t mind the silence from her ‘date’ at the moment, just like she didn’t mind the run down motel room they were in. If she closed her eyes, none of it mattered. If she closed her eyes, she was at the prom with Seth. Tightening her arms a bit more around his neck, she leaned closer into him and let herself become immersed in the song. She didn’t notice until a minute later the stiffness of Seth’s body and when she pulled her head back to look at him he was gritting his teeth.  
“Seth? What’s wrong?” She asked him with a frown.  
He released a breath that he seemed to have been holding in and looked down to meet her eyes.  
“You look good; I mean nice. You look nice,” he said and Kate blushed.  
Maybe it was the candles or the song getting to her because there’s no way she was seeing what she thought she was seeing in Seth’s eyes. His eyes had never been quite so expressive before and she found herself being pulled in by them, not even noticing that they were no longer dancing. Their eyes stayed locked together like magnets and she failed to realize the way they both began to gravitate even closer together, failed to realize the tilting of their heads as they were both moving towards something subconscious. He was so close now Kate could feel his breath on her lips and she was sure for a second that Seth was going to kiss her; that she was going to let him. Suddenly the song came to an end and Seth seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. He pulled away all too suddenly and turned away. The spell was broken, and she was back to being in the cheap motel room with the man who didn’t want her. _So stupid_ , she thought. There’s no way he was about to kiss her. He had even told her not to read too much into it and she did anyway. Like the silly teenage girl he thought she was. She stood there worrying her lip and staring at his back, trying to think of what to say. He had other plans however and a moment later was making his way to the door, talking to her from over his shoulder.  
“I’m going to head out for a bit. Don’t wait up.” The door slammed behind him and she was alone.  
She let out a sigh and looked around the room before speaking out loud, “I guess the ball’s over, Cinderella.”  
It was time to get back to reality.


End file.
